DutchBasecamp

Congratulations to Globaliser alumnus Blue Radix on securing a €5M investment! 🚀 Blue Radix, a market leader AI-driven technology for greenhouse operations with nearly 100 greenhouse clients globally, will use the investment to speed up the growth of the international team. Good luck Ronald Hoek and the team with your next steps on the road to internationalisation!

You’d be amazed at what we can squeeze into a 5 day field trip to Berlin for 25 (e)MBA students of University of Fredericton... But last week we were put to the test... The conclusion: A jam-packed week of 18 speakers, sightseeing, eating & drinking through the city, and don't forget the many (bad) jokes in between It was our first time in Berlin with Joe Pitzel H.B. Comm (SPAD) B.A. Econ MBA PHD & Elizabeth MacLaughlin for this field trip after completing 4 similar programmes in Amsterdam together within the last few years. It was great to dive deeper into another startup ecosystem and demonstrate what the city of Berlin has to offer 'future entrepreneurs' and students completing their Global Capstones at the University of Fredericton 🇩🇪 Whether it was the interactive workshops on growth hacking and rapid prototyping, or presentations taking place on a range of topics, from pricing to distribution to people & culture, the amount of information thrown into this week was HUGE! And it was only right that we end the week together with some wurst, pretzels and German beer tastings of course 😉🥨🍻 Shoutout to the students for being so engaging, fun and keeping our Programme Facilitator Kirra Pickering on her toes throughout the week And a big thank-you to our energetic and insightful speakers of the week for sharing their knowledge and experience with us Jan-Philipp Heinisch Johannis Hatt Johan Philippe Stam Karina Nemeth Richard Miranda Asmus Eggert Jonathan van Spijker Baan Niels Beuck Joris van Winsen Jana Scharfschwerdt Cristina Iulia Toma Evelyne Keller, PhD Mathias Niehaus Gaston Serpenti Jort Schutte Dee Scarano Rebecca Courtney Bis zum nächsten Mal (Until next time) 👋🇩🇪

A great opportunity to explore the German market from our partner Business Metropole Ruhr GmbH for Dutch AI Health Tech startups. There are 2 wildcards up for grab to join the 'AI for Health' TechTour in Bochum. To apply or get more information, see the link in the comments.

🚀 Last week, we took Elfsquad, Capptions, De BouwApp, Stager, AirInternet®, CargoLedger and MAGOXX®Board to the Ruhr Area to move beyond strategy on paper and dive into real-world German market expansion. Here are some key takeaways from the trip: 🌐 The Ruhr Area is the perfect gateway to Germany. It's close to the Netherlands, there's a strong cultural alignment, and the local business community is eager to collaborate with Dutch companies. 🇩🇪 Trust is the cornerstone of success in Germany. Complying with local regulations (think GDPR), showcasing local references, and tailoring your value proposition to the German market are essential steps to winning over local customers. 🤝🏼 Business is (still) all about people. Building a solid network is crucial for success in a new market, and trips like this provide immediate access to a curated, valuable network. A big thank you to Florian Hoppen, Maaike Molenkamp, Frederic Knaudt, Maike Speksnijder-Moser, Laura Fritz-Wilde, Eva Vergles, Maurice Reinhard, Dr. Arnd Becker, Klaus Thönißen, LL.M., Tim Berghoff, Jessika Lüning, Willemijn van der Toorn and Jörg Kemna who contributed to making this trip a huge success! 🙏 And a special shoutout to our partner Business Metropole Ruhr GmbH for their fantastic cooperation. Interested in expanding to the German market? Reach out to our colleague Hugo Niezen to explore what we have lined up for you!

🇩🇪 Germany, here we come! Yesterday, we kicked off the 'Scaling to Germany' trip we will be making to the Ruhr Area next week in partnership with Business Metropole Ruhr GmbH and participants Elfsquad, Capptions, AirInternet®, MAGOXX®Board, Stager, De BouwApp and CargoLedger. Lars Freriks, founder of Trustoo.nl, shared some valuable insights from his own experience expanding to Germany, helping us get ready for next week: 👉 Start small: Learn, adapt, and grow from there. The Ruhr Area is the perfect test ground — close to the Netherlands, culturally more aligned with the Netherlands then other parts of Germany, and you can easily fit in a few meetings and be back home for dinner. 👉 Digital adoption is different: Germany is behind the Netherlands in digital adoption. This can be an opportunity, but also a challenge when convincing German clients. You need to understand the impact for your market entry strategy. 👉 Trust is everything: Whether it’s hosting data locally, getting that CE certification, or having a local support team — it’s all about building trust, depending on your sector and clients. Next week, we’re diving into a packed 2-day program in Bochum and Essen to learn how to develop a winning Go-to-Market strategy for Germany. Stay tuned!🎯 🤝 Want to meet us while we're there? On the evening of the 24th, Business Metropole Ruhr is hosting a networking event in Essen to connect the Dutch participants with the Ruhr Area ecosystem. You can still sign up via the link in the comments!

Empowering tomorrow’s innovative scale-ups! ⚙ Last Friday, Cyril Schouten was invited to The Gate at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven to provide an interactive workshop on Internationalisation Readiness for entrepreneurs of the European Venture Programme. Combining (student) entrepreneurs of deeptech ventures from 5 European universities DTU - Technical University of Denmark, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL ,Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and Technical University of Munich. We dove into differences between international markets, zooming in on regulatory and cultural implications for AI, deeptech and biotech startups. On top of that, we were joined by experienced founder Brian Kelly, CEO of emproof, who shared some of his first-hand experiences and lessons: 👉 Don’t over complicate your company valuation for your Seed round. Take into account your (future) R&D, potential upside and dare to be the first one who suggests a number to the investor. 👉 Don’t underestimate the importance of cultural differences of cultures that are seemingly similar and 👉 As founder, work on the core business only. Delegate or outsource anything that someone else can do better than you, so you can focus on the core of the business. Great to see such an ambitious group of young dedicated entrepreneurs trying to create a better tomorrow! Good luck on your entrepreneurial journey! Thank you to Brian Kelly, Bart van Grevenhof and Beaudine Moll!

“During this 2-day trip to the Ruhr region, we learned a lot about doing business in Germany and made valuable new (business) friends. It helped us take a big step forward in our launch in Germany. Should you plan to expand to Germany, I highly recommend this programme.” (Jeroen Meuleman Geuzenet) Do you represent a Dutch tech startup or scale-up, ready to scale internationally? Is Germany your next target market and are you figuring out your German market growth strategy? Then the 2-day trip to the Ruhr area we are organising together with our friends from Business Metropole Ruhr GmbH is the perfect opportunity for you. Here is why you should join: 👉🏼 You will gain access to local expertise, connections, and potential clients and partners in the German market 👉🏼 You will save valuable time and money when scaling up your business When?  📅September 24th - 25th Get in touch with us through the link in the comments.

What do a rocket 🚀 and a unicorn 🦄 have in common? They are both part of our EIT Supernovas RocketUp programme! During the past weeks, we introduced the founders to what exactly constitutes market opportunities and how to identify them. This plenary session was followed by a Q&A session with Matthijs Welle, co-founder of one of the newest unicorns Mews, which was focused specifically on the topic of GTM strategy and validation process. Thank you Matthijs Welle for connecting with us online! It was great having you with us, sharing your learnings and answering the questions from the founders participating in the programme. Here is what we have learnt: 🌍 You don’t always need to have your employees based where you have your sales focus. 💪 Entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted, don't be afraid to take risks. This applies especially when expanding internationally. ExoMatter, Vini Mini, UNIO Enterprise, SABI AGRI, Biopols, Hergele Mobility, Circonomit, Dreamwaves, FABBRIC, OnTime (Top 50 Startup in EU), Grayn, Raw Edge, see you all in two weeks where we will hear the first results of your target market analysis. Good luck with the preparations! EIT - European Institute of Innovation and Technology | EIT Urban Mobility | EIT Manufacturing | EIT Food | Celeste Reglá Díaz | Kirra Pickering | Arianna Bianchi | Cyril Schouten

⚡Calling fast-growing Energy and Mobility startups! ⚡ As a founder scaling your energy or mobility company to international markets you might find yourself facing challenges in: 👉🏼Finding local Product-Market Fit in your target market(s) 👉🏼Scaling your international team, while maintaining the core of you company culture 👉🏼Finding, selecting and building trust with the right partners in order to create a sustainable win-win dynamic Navigate these challenges by joining our 12-week Globaliser Energy & Mobility, starting in September. You will be: 🤝 Carefully matched with one of our 25 experienced coaches, who are all seasoned entrepreneurs and/or senior executives with a plethora of experience scaling internationally. 👥Attacking your challenges with a group of peers. The programme will include fellow founders and international experts who have successfully expanded their companies internationally, or have valuable experience in internationalisation, providing you with concrete and actionable insights for your next steps. 🌐 Getting access to our tools and methodology allowing you to build a repeatable (and therefore scalable) internationalisation strategy for your target markets. The programme is organised together with Trade and Innovate NL partners and with the support of Holland High Tech. Apply through the link in comments to be considered for participation.

Off to make new connections! 🚀 Yesterday, in partnership with Business Metropole Ruhr GmbH, we hosted our exclusive networking event ‘Scaling to Germany’ at the Hoxton Herengracht as an official side event of the #TNWConference. Thank you, Martijn van der Ent, for sharing Cue2walk International’s insightful internationalisation journey and valuable lessons on expanding into the German market. It is events like this that highlight the importance of founder-to-founder learning, networking and the value of building meaningful relationships. 🤝 Want to know more about scaling to Germany and how we can support? Meet us at TNW Conference today or pass by the booth of Business Metropole Ruhr (booth #8)! Stay tuned for more exciting opportunities and upcoming events! 🗓️ Hugo Niezen | Enzo Minor| Frank Speer | Rebecca Grossmann #networking #event #opportunities #germany #scalingup #startups